comparison of government’s lokpal bill with civil society’s lokpal bill

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h t t p : / / w e w i t h a n n a h a z a r e . b l o g s p o t . c o m /  Comparison of Government’s Lokpal Bill with Civil Society’s Lokpal Bill  S No Government’s proposal Civil Society proposal  1. Lokpal will not have any power to either initiate action suo motu in any case or even receive complaints of corruption from general public. The general public will make complaints to the speaker of Lok Sabha or chairperson of Rajya Sabha. Only those complaints forwarded by Speaker of Lok Sabha/ Chairperson of Rajya Sabha to Lokpal would be investigated by Lokpal. This not only severely restricts the functioning of Lokpal, it also provides a tool in the hands of the ruling party to have only those cases referred to Lokpal which pertain to political opponents (since speaker is always from the ruling party). It will also provide a tool in the hands of the ruling party to protect its own politicians. Lokpal will have powers to initiate investigations suo moto in any case and also to directly entertain complaints from the public. It will not need reference or permission from anyone to initiate investigation into any case. 2 Lokpal has been proposed to be an advisory body. Lokpal, after enquiry in any case, will forward its report to the competent authority. The competent authority will have final powers to decide whether to take action on Lokpal’s report or not. In the case of cabinet ministers, the competent authority is Prime Minister. In the case of PM and MPs the competent authority is Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha, as the case may be. In the coalition era when the government of the day depends upon the support of its political partners, it will be impossible for the PM to act against any of his cabinet ministers on the basis of Lokpal’s report. For instance, if there were such a Lokpal today and if Lokpal made a recommendation to the PM to prosecute A. Raja, obviously the PM will not have the political courage to initiate prosecution against A. Raja. Likewise, if Lokpal made a report against the PM or any MP of the ruling party, will the house ever pass a resolution to prosecute the PM or the ruling party MP? Obviously, they will never do that. Lokpal is not an advisory body. It will have the powers to initiate prosecution against any one after completion of investigations in any case. It will also have powers to order disciplinary proceedings against any government servant. 3 The bill is legally unsound. Lokpal has not been given police powers. Therefore Lokpal cannot register an FIR. Therefore all the enquiries conducted by Lokpal will tantamount to “preliminary enquiries”. Even if the report of Lokpal is accepted, who will file the chargesheet in the court? Who will initiate prosecution? Who will appoint the prosecution lawyer? The entire bill is silent on that. Lokpal would have police powers. It will be able to register FIR, proceed with criminal investigations and launch prosecution. 4 The bill does not say what will be the role of CBI after this bill. Can CBI and Lokpal investigate the same case or CBI will lose its powers to investigate politicians? If the latter is true, then this bill is meant to completely insulate politicians from any investigations whatsoever which are possible today through CBI. That part of CBI, which deals with cases of corruption, will be merged into Lokpal so that there is just one effective and independent body to take action against corruption. 5 There is a strong punishment for “frivolous” complaints. If any complaint is found to be false and frivolous, Lokpal will have the power to send the complainant to jail through summary trial but if the complaint were found to be true, the Lokpal will not have the power to send the corrupt politicians to jail! So the bill appears to be meant to browbeat, threaten and discourage those fighting against corruption. Deterrence has been provided against frivolous complaints in the form of financial penalties against the complainant, however, Lokayukta is empowered to prosecute the corrupt and take disciplinary action against them. 6 Lokpal will have jurisdiction only on MPs, ministers and PM. It will not have jurisdiction over officers. The officers and politicians do not indulge in corruption separately. In any case of corruption, there is always an involvement of both of them. So according to government’s proposal, every case would need to be investigated by both CVC and Lokpal. So now, in each case, CVC will look into the role of bureaucrats while Lokpal will have jurisdiction over politicians, officials and judges. CVC and the entire vigilance machinery of government will be merged into Lokpal.

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Page 1: Comparison of Government’s Lokpal Bill with Civil Society’s Lokpal Bill

8/7/2019 Comparison of Government’s Lokpal Bill with Civil Society’s Lokpal Bill

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/comparison-of-governments-lokpal-bill-with-civil-societys-lokpal-bill 1/2

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Comparison of Government’s Lokpal Bill with Civil Society’s Lokpal Bill 

S No  Government’s proposal  Civil Society proposal 

1. Lokpal will not have any power to either initiate action suo

motu in any case or even receive complaints of corruption

from general public. The general public will make complaints

to the speaker of Lok Sabha or chairperson of Rajya Sabha.

Only those complaints forwarded by Speaker of Lok Sabha/ 

Chairperson of Rajya Sabha to Lokpal would be investigatedby Lokpal. This not only severely restricts the functioning of 

Lokpal, it also provides a tool in the hands of the ruling party

to have only those cases referred to Lokpal which pertain to

political opponents (since speaker is always from the ruling

party). It will also provide a tool in the hands of the ruling

party to protect its own politicians.

Lokpal will have powers to initiate investigations

suo moto in any case and also to directly entertain

complaints from the public. It will not need

reference or permission from anyone to initiate

investigation into any case.

2 Lokpal has been proposed to be an advisory body. Lokpal,

after enquiry in any case, will forward its report to the

competent authority. The competent authority will have final

powers to decide whether to take action on Lokpal’s report or

not. In the case of cabinet ministers, the competent authority

is Prime Minister. In the case of PM and MPs the competent

authority is Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha, as the case may be. Inthe coalition era when the government of the day depends

upon the support of its political partners, it will be impossible

for the PM to act against any of his cabinet ministers on the

basis of Lokpal’s report. For instance, if there were such a

Lokpal today and if Lokpal made a recommendation to the

PM to prosecute A. Raja, obviously the PM will not have the

political courage to initiate prosecution against A. Raja.

Likewise, if Lokpal made a report against the PM or any MP

of the ruling party, will the house ever pass a resolution to

prosecute the PM or the ruling party MP? Obviously, they

will never do that.

Lokpal is not an advisory body. It will have the

powers to initiate prosecution against any one after

completion of investigations in any case. It will also

have powers to order disciplinary proceedings

against any government servant.

3 The bill is legally unsound. Lokpal has not been given police

powers. Therefore Lokpal cannot register an FIR. Therefore

all the enquiries conducted by Lokpal will tantamount to

“preliminary enquiries”. Even if the report of Lokpal is

accepted, who will file the chargesheet in the court? Who will

initiate prosecution? Who will appoint the prosecution

lawyer? The entire bill is silent on that.

Lokpal would have police powers. It will be able to

register FIR, proceed with criminal investigations

and launch prosecution.

4 The bill does not say what will be the role of CBI after this

bill. Can CBI and Lokpal investigate the same case or CBI

will lose its powers to investigate politicians? If the latter is

true, then this bill is meant to completely insulate politicians

from any investigations whatsoever which are possible today

through CBI.

That part of CBI, which deals with cases of 

corruption, will be merged into Lokpal so that there

is just one effective and independent body to take

action against corruption.

5 There is a strong punishment for “frivolous” complaints. If any complaint is found to be false and frivolous, Lokpal will

have the power to send the complainant to jail through

summary trial but if the complaint were found to be true, the

Lokpal will not have the power to send the corrupt politicians

to jail! So the bill appears to be meant to browbeat, threaten

and discourage those fighting against corruption.

Deterrence has been provided against frivolouscomplaints in the form of financial penalties against

the complainant, however, Lokayukta is empowered

to prosecute the corrupt and take disciplinary action

against them.

6 Lokpal will have jurisdiction only on MPs, ministers and PM.

It will not have jurisdiction over officers. The officers and

politicians do not indulge in corruption separately. In any case

of corruption, there is always an involvement of both of them.

So according to government’s proposal, every case would

need to be investigated by both CVC and Lokpal. So now, in

each case, CVC will look into the role of bureaucrats while

Lokpal will have jurisdiction over politicians,

officials and judges. CVC and the entire vigilance

machinery of government will be merged into

Lokpal.

Page 2: Comparison of Government’s Lokpal Bill with Civil Society’s Lokpal Bill

8/7/2019 Comparison of Government’s Lokpal Bill with Civil Society’s Lokpal Bill

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Lokpal will look into the role of politicians. Obviously the

case records will be with one agency and the way government

functions it will not share its records with the other agency. It

is also possible that in the same case the two agencies arrive

at completely opposite conclusions. Therefore it appears to be

a sure way of killing any case.

7 Lokpal will consist of three members, all of them being

retired judges. There is no reason why the choice should be

restricted to judiciary. By creating so many post retirement

posts for judges, the government will make the retiring judges

vulnerable to government influences just before retirement as

is already happening in the case of retiring bureaucrats. Theretiring judges, in the hope of getting post retirement

employment would do the bidding of the government in their

last few years.

Lokpal would have ten members and one

Chairperson. Out of them four need to have legal

background (they need not be judges). Others could

be from any background.

8 The selection committee consists of Vice President, PM,

Leaders of both houses, Leaders of opposition in both houses,

Law Minister and Home minister. Barring Vice President, all

of them are politicians whose corruption Lokpal is supposed

to investigate. So there is a direct conflict of interest. Also

selection committee is heavily loaded in favor of the ruling

party. Effectively ruling party will make the final selections.

And obviously ruling party will never appoint strong and

effective Lokpal.

Selection committee consists of members from

judicial background, Chief Election Commissioner,

Comptroller and Auditor General of India and

international awardees (like Nobel prize winners

and Magsaysay awardees of Indian origin). A

detailed transparent and participatory selection

process has been prescribed.

9 Lokpal will not have powers to investigate any case against

PM, which deals with foreign affairs, security and defence.

This means that corruption in defence deals will be out of any

scrutiny whatsoever. It will become impossible to investigate

into any Bofors in future.

There is no such bar on Lokpal’s powers.

10 Whereas a time limit of six months to one year has been

prescribed for Lokpal to enquire, however, subsequently,

there is no time limit prescribed for completion of trial.

Investigations should be completed within one year.

Trial should get over within the next one year.

11 It does not deal with corruption of Bureaucrats. Corrupt

bureaucrats continue in their job without any actions against

them.

Lokpal will have power to direct disciplinary action,

including dismissal of a corrupt officer from job.

12 It does not talk of investigation of complaints against judges Lokpal will have powers to initiate investigations on

complaints of corruption against judges.13 Speaker would decide which complaints shall be enquired

into by Lokpal.

Lokpal will not be able to dismiss any complaint

from public without hearing the complainant.

14 Our entire governance system suffers from inadequate public

grievance redressal systems, which force people to pay bribes.

Lokpal bill does not address this issue.

Lokpal will have the powers to orders redressal in a

time bound manner. It will have powers to impose

financial penalties on guilty officers, which would

be paid to complainant as compensation.

15 Large number of people raising their voice against political

corruption are being murdered. Lokpal does not have any

powers to provide protection to them.

Lokpal will have powers to provide protection

against physical and professional victimization of 

whistleblowers.

16 Nothing has been provided in law to recover ill gotten wealth.

A corrupt person can come out of jail and enjoy that money.

Loss caused to the government due to corruption

will be recovered from all accused.

17 Under the present law, there is Small punishment forcorruption- Punishment for corruption is minimum 6 months

and maximum 7 years.

Enhanced punishment - The punishment would beminimum 5 years and maximum of life

imprisonment.